I've been looking to expand my music library a bit and am interested in one of the significant roots of metal - the blues. I've been listening to the local jazz/blues radio station a little bit, but, while some was quite good, nothing I've heard really stood out.

So, does anybody here listen to the blues? Any recommended acts a metalhead may get into?

I am also glad someone started this topic. Blues, to me, is the most personal of all genres.

As for the list above, I have seen B.B. King and Buddy Guy both perform several times, and their musicianship is amazing. Even more impressive, though, is their stage presence. I agree with pyroleprechaun when he suggested looking into the live stuff. As I mentioned, blues is a very personal form of music, and the experience is multiplied several-fold when it is performed live. Blues musicians tend to really excel in establishing a connection with an audience, almost creating an atmosphere like you are all getting together at someone's house and talking about life over a beer.

I have seen B.B. King and agree fully with the statements made about their stage presence. B.B. King, sitting in a chair on stage, playing a couple notes blows people away. It's amazing what can be carried in so few notes. "Live at Cook County Jail" is a great album.

I've never seen Buddy Guy, but a friend went to a university in Chicago pursuing a degree in editing, got to tape a gig of his at Buddy's bar (before the school eminent domained it from him... grrr) - and he, who has played on stage in his own band, was really excited in describing the way Buddy worked the crowd - soloing away while leaving stage to mingle with the audience, etc.

I highly, highly reccomend Buddy Guy. It's even better if you can see him live. I saw him at the Durham Blues Festival, and I swear it was the best show I've ever seen.

He has a highly energetic style that is a huge influence to my playing style.

I also reccomend 60s British blues, like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, or early Yardbirds. It's a great way to transition from hard rock into blues., due to it's rock nature.
70s and 80s American blues is also reccomended for the same reasons. SRV, etc.

One thing about blues for theory educated people: In its standard 12 bar form, it lacks a 3rd or flat 3rd, so there is nothing that distinguishes major and minor. This makes it so there are few tunes that really stand out, and is why without good tone and phrasing, it is extremely monotonous.

Quote:I have seen B.B. King and agree fully with the statements made about their stage presence. B.B. King, sitting in a chair on stage, playing a couple notes blows people away. It's amazing what can be carried in so few notes. "Live at Cook County Jail" is a great album.

Add to this a couple more. B.B. King Live at the Regal is supposed to be his definitive live set. However, I prefer Live at San Quentin. Live at the Apollo is also pretty good.

I also reccomend 60s British blues, like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, or early Yardbirds. It's a great way to transition from hard rock into blues., due to it's rock nature.
70s and 80s American blues is also reccomended for the same reasons. SRV, etc.

Those bands are good, but lsiten Sonny Boy Williamson, and other early black american blue artists you will see how crap are whit blues, and ist true even how good are white man blues , black man still understand it more, and I wa sin blues fest and well it was Danish blues bands, ok its awsome, but still i prefere true real american blues from south

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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing

I also reccomend 60s British blues, like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, or early Yardbirds. It's a great way to transition from hard rock into blues., due to it's rock nature.
70s and 80s American blues is also reccomended for the same reasons. SRV, etc.

Those bands are good, but lsiten Sonny Boy Williamson, and other early black american blue artists you will see how crap are whit blues, and ist true even how good are white man blues , black man still understand it more, and I wa sin blues fest and well it was Danish blues bands, ok its awsome, but still i prefere true real american blues from south

Oh, I feel the same way, I just reccomend white blues for people who listen to metal.
Sonny Boy Williamson is great, Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson. I love all the delta blues and piedmont blues. There's a lot of that stuff in a city near where I live called Durham, which has the Durham blues festival every year. If anyone ever happens to be in NC anytime, it's a great fesival.
Last year it had Percy Sledge, and Buddy Guy, and a bunch of more modern blues artists.

I also reccomend 60s British blues, like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, or early Yardbirds. It's a great way to transition from hard rock into blues., due to it's rock nature.
70s and 80s American blues is also reccomended for the same reasons. SRV, etc.

Those bands are good, but lsiten Sonny Boy Williamson, and other early black american blue artists you will see how crap are whit blues, and ist true even how good are white man blues , black man still understand it more, and I wa sin blues fest and well it was Danish blues bands, ok its awsome, but still i prefere true real american blues from south

Oh, I feel the same way, I just reccomend white blues for people who listen to metal.
Sonny Boy Williamson is great, Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson. I love all the delta blues and piedmont blues. There's a lot of that stuff in a city near where I live called Durham, which has the Durham blues festival every year. If anyone ever happens to be in NC anytime, it's a great fesival.
Last year it had Percy Sledge, and Buddy Guy, and a bunch of more modern blues artists.

I agree but those black blues artists thay never bored you but I like white blues too but not ewery day sometimes seems tahy just wanna be bluesartsists but soemhow can find real key to be like blavk's

----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing

I also reccomend 60s British blues, like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, or early Yardbirds. It's a great way to transition from hard rock into blues., due to it's rock nature.
70s and 80s American blues is also reccomended for the same reasons. SRV, etc.

Those bands are good, but lsiten Sonny Boy Williamson, and other early black american blue artists you will see how crap are whit blues, and ist true even how good are white man blues , black man still understand it more, and I wa sin blues fest and well it was Danish blues bands, ok its awsome, but still i prefere true real american blues from south

Oh, I feel the same way, I just reccomend white blues for people who listen to metal.
Sonny Boy Williamson is great, Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson. I love all the delta blues and piedmont blues. There's a lot of that stuff in a city near where I live called Durham, which has the Durham blues festival every year. If anyone ever happens to be in NC anytime, it's a great fesival.
Last year it had Percy Sledge, and Buddy Guy, and a bunch of more modern blues artists.

I agree but those black blues artists thay never bored you but I like white blues too but not ewery day sometimes seems tahy just wanna be bluesartsists but soemhow can find real key to be like blavk's

All the guys at the festival -are- black.

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myspace.com/absentchrist
My new black metal project.

Crimson LilyAccount deleted

29.03.2009 at 21:39

Hi,everyone! I'm so glad someone decided to open a thread about blues, since it's one of my favorite genres of music! If LethargyMan hadn't, than I would have done it, so :thumbs up:,LethargyMan! Okay,to the topic now.I personally love all blues music, but especially old blues music. And when I say old , I mean really old. What I like best is a subgenre of blues called ''classic female blues''. It's blues mostly from the 20's,sung by female blues singers. It was sung by mostly black women, a lot of them were also active in vaudeville, so it's sometimes also called''vaudeville blues''. It's not for everyone, though, you either love it or hate it, one could say, since mostly the records are very scratchy and may sound dated to some . I personally adore the genre, personally I like the lesser known gems of the genre the most, since everything's already been said and written about the more famous cfm singers, and almost nothing about the lesser known singers who've also contributed to the genre. Oh and the subgenre is not really similar to metal, musically,though there are plenty songs in the repertoire about black magic and misery and such, so guess the themes are kinda similar. If you want to check it out, the best compilation there is IMO, is the Document label one, so, go to Amazon and type in female blues singers, then you'll get some results, among them ''document series'', click on that and you can listen to samples. Absolutely amazing to me (great vocals, great songs, great lyrics), they just don't make' em like that anymore. Well,I won't bore you people any longer, I'll ramble on about my love of the blues some next time, just nice to see some similar blues-loving people here on MS

Hi,everyone!I'm so glad someone decided to open a thread about blues,since it's one of my favorite genres of music!If LethargyMan hadn't,than I would have done it,so :thumbs up:,LethargyMan!Okay,to the topic now.I personally love all blues music,but especially old blues music.And when I say old ,I mean really old.What I like best is a subgenre of blues called ''classic female blues''.It's blues mostly from the 20's,sung by female blues singers.It was sung by mostly black women,a lot of them were also active in vaudeville,so it's sometimes also called''vaudeville blues''.It's not for everyone,though,you either love it or hate it,one could say,since mostly the records are very scratchy and may sound dated to some.I personally adore the genre,personally I like the lesser known gems of the genre the most,since everything's already been said and written about the more famous cfm singers,and almost nothing about the lesser known singers who've also contributed to the genre.Oh and the subgenre is not really similar to metal,musically,though there are plenty songs in the repertoire about black magic and misery and such,so guess the themes are kinda similar.If you want to check it out,the best compilation there is IMO,is the Document label one,so,go to Amazon and type in female blues singers,then you'll get some results,among them ''document series'',click on that and you can listen to samples.Absolutely amazing to me (great vocals,great songs,great lyrics),they just don't make' em like that anymore.Well,I won't bore you people any longer,I'll ramble on about my love of the blues some next time,just nice to see some similar blues-loving people here on MS

Hi,everyone!I'm so glad someone decided to open a thread about blues,since it's one of my favorite genres of music!If LethargyMan hadn't,than I would have done it,so :thumbs up:,LethargyMan!Okay,to the topic now.I personally love all blues music,but especially old blues music.And when I say old ,I mean really old.What I like best is a subgenre of blues called ''classic female blues''.It's blues mostly from the 20's,sung by female blues singers.It was sung by mostly black women,a lot of them were also active in vaudeville,so it's sometimes also called''vaudeville blues''.It's not for everyone,though,you either love it or hate it,one could say,since mostly the records are very scratchy and may sound dated to some.I personally adore the genre,personally I like the lesser known gems of the genre the most,since everything's already been said and written about the more famous cfm singers,and almost nothing about the lesser known singers who've also contributed to the genre.Oh and the subgenre is not really similar to metal,musically,though there are plenty songs in the repertoire about black magic and misery and such,so guess the themes are kinda similar.If you want to check it out,the best compilation there is IMO,is the Document label one,so,go to Amazon and type in female blues singers,then you'll get some results,among them ''document series'',click on that and you can listen to samples.Absolutely amazing to me (great vocals,great songs,great lyrics),they just don't make' em like that anymore.Well,I won't bore you people any longer,I'll ramble on about my love of the blues some next time,just nice to see some similar blues-loving people here on MS

Great taste and you are very knowledgeable about all pre-war blues, including classic female blues I see! I love pre-war blues! And thanks for the links! I'll also quote some great blues sites at one point in the future, just gotta see what I have first! Haha,rock on, BadEnglish! I mean blues on lol

Last nigth I saw 4 docs about Blues, one was like storey about Delta Blues how it goes to all over the USA, interesting, life of artisrts, places wher ethey born, many thinks also music

Secend was bout UK blues situation in 60's blues vinlys was so rear how virgins in Motley Crue tour buss
Eric Claptin, Ian Burdon , many thet time UK"s blues artist tell a story how they insuprate from what, was good muisc original songs n covers , damn white man blues I prefere when they play lil electronicl to metal side hehehe

Last 2 dont remeber but there was some artissts who tell famose mussicans story and played muisc

----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing

Bobby_LogginsAccount deleted

19.06.2009 at 22:44

My favourite Blues Artist is Howling Wolf. incredible!!!

My favourite Blues guitarist is probably Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac. That guy had a tone that was unreal.

Elmore James has recently become one of my favorite blues musicians. I love almost all of his songs, especially Done Somebody Wrong, Dust My Broom, The Sky is Crying, Got to Move, etc etc... they're all good.

King of the slide guitar!!

cmusiclivesAccount deleted

01.07.2009 at 18:41

Keb mo is good, but check out all the jazz greats, they all play the blues

Albert King was another awesome bluesman. unfortunately it seems to be one of the only songs known to man not up on youtube, but his "Love Gun" aka "The HUnter" was covered by Danzig.

Born Under A Bad Sign

There was some cool stuff in the 70's when the old guard mixed it up with the "modern" funk...

"i see the man coming with his tools. i guess he's going to cut off my water. you know they got the gas yesterday, and they're coming right back for the lights tomorrow. that's what the blues is people, that's what the blues is all about"

I'm a little surprised to see John Lee Hooker get only a couple mentions in this thread. Next to Robert Johnson, he's my favourite blues man. I highly recommend his album John Lee Hooker Plays and Sings the Blues. Nothing but the man, his guitar and something for him to stomp on. Delta blues at their best. His Mr. Lucky album from 1991 which featured guest musicians and is almost a tribute album of sorts is also a stand out.

I am a huge blues fan and I love this thread...thanks for starting it...some of my fav blues artist besides the one already mentioned are; Luther Allison, big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Otis Rush just for starters. Toss in some Gary Moore, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and some John Lee Hooker. Try some Elmore James...once you start looking for the blues it becomes a never end find. Then there was a time when the blues had a (good word) Raunchy lyrics (gin joint stuff) with tunes like "Sam the Hotdog Man" and "Shave'em Dry". One of my fav raunchy blues tunes would be "If it don't fit don't force it." These are bluesy these are up tempo mix of jazzy/blues...gin joint...but fun to listen too if you have never heard it before.

I'm a little surprised to see John Lee Hooker get only a couple mentions in this thread. Next to Robert Johnson, he's my favourite blues man. I highly recommend his album John Lee Hooker Plays and Sings the Blues. Nothing but the man, his guitar and something for him to stomp on. Delta blues at their best. His Mr. Lucky album from 1991 which featured guest musicians and is almost a tribute album of sorts is also a stand out.

JLH was the man who got me into the blues. the first time I watched the movie Blues Brothers - which has tons of amazing musical performances from legends - he blew me away. just the beat and vocals... great stuff.

amusingly the video clip actually goes on for longer than originally appeared in the film.

Just bought The Best Of Leadbelly. A lot of not so great stuff on it, but "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" is the tits. The versions on YouTube aren't as good as the one on the disc I bought, but i think it's on Last FM somewhere.

The best blues singer is Howlin Wolf, the best guitarist is Albert King, the best blues artist for metal heads is John Lee Hooker, with his drone like playing and singing. The best early blues artist is Son House. You should start with BB King or Buddy Guy, the both mainstream bluesartist.

If you love blues watch the The Blues Brothers (older one, the new one is okay though). John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, and a ton more, all with two of SNL's funniest cast members ever (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd). Great for getting into blues.

Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf, Louie Jordan (Jazz & Blues), Robert Johnson, Skip James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Charlie Patton. There are many more, but this is just off the top of my head.